How do I find a factorial?

Question

How can I write a program to find the factorial of any natural number?

Answer 1

This will work for the factorial (although a very small subset) of positive integers:

unsigned long factorial(unsigned long f)
{
    if ( f == 0 ) 
        return 1;
    return(f * factorial(f - 1));
}

printf("%i", factorial(5));

Due to the nature of your problem (and level that you have admitted), this solution is based more in the concept of solving this rather than a function that will be used in the next "Permutation Engine".

Answer 2

This calculates factorials of non-negative integers[*] up to ULONG_MAX, which will have so many digits that it's unlikely your machine can store a whole lot more, even if it has time to calculate them. Uses the GNU multiple precision library, which you need to link against.

#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <gmp.h>

void factorial(mpz_t result, unsigned long input) {
    mpz_set_ui(result, 1);
    while (input > 1) {
        mpz_mul_ui(result, result, input--);
    }
}

int main() {
    mpz_t fact;
    unsigned long input = 0;
    char *buf;

    mpz_init(fact);
    scanf("%lu", &input);
    factorial(fact, input);

    buf = malloc(mpz_sizeinbase(fact, 10) + 1);
    assert(buf);
    mpz_get_str(buf, 10, fact);
    printf("%s\n", buf);

    free(buf);
    mpz_clear(fact);
}

Example output:

$ make factorial CFLAGS="-L/bin/ -lcyggmp-3 -pedantic" -B && ./factorial
cc -L/bin/ -lcyggmp-3 -pedantic    factorial.c   -o factorial
100
93326215443944152681699238856266700490715968264381621468592963895217599993229915608941463976156518286253697920827223758251185210916864000000000000000000000000

[*] If you mean something else by "number" then you'll have to be more specific. I'm not aware of any other numbers for which the factorial is defined, despite valiant efforts by Pascal to extend the domain by use of the Gamma function.

Answer 3

Why do it in C when you can do it in Haskell:

Freshman Haskell programmer

fac n = if n == 0 
           then 1
           else n * fac (n-1)

Sophomore Haskell programmer, at MIT (studied Scheme as a freshman)

fac = (\(n) ->
        (if ((==) n 0)
            then 1
            else ((*) n (fac ((-) n 1)))))

Junior Haskell programmer (beginning Peano player)

fac  0    =  1
fac (n+1) = (n+1) * fac n

Another junior Haskell programmer (read that n+k patterns are “a disgusting part of Haskell” 1 and joined the “Ban n+k patterns”-movement [2])

fac 0 = 1
fac n = n * fac (n-1)

Senior Haskell programmer (voted for Nixon Buchanan Bush — “leans right”)

fac n = foldr (*) 1 [1..n]

Another senior Haskell programmer (voted for McGovern Biafra
Nader — “leans left”)

fac n = foldl (*) 1 [1..n]

Yet another senior Haskell programmer (leaned so far right he came back left again!)

-- using foldr to simulate foldl

fac n = foldr (\x g n -> g (x*n)) id [1..n] 1

Memoizing Haskell programmer (takes Ginkgo Biloba daily)

facs = scanl (*) 1 [1..]

fac n = facs !! n

Pointless (ahem) “Points-free” Haskell programmer (studied at Oxford)

fac = foldr (*) 1 . enumFromTo 1

Iterative Haskell programmer (former Pascal programmer)

fac n = result (for init next done)
        where init = (0,1)
              next   (i,m) = (i+1, m * (i+1))
              done   (i,_) = i==n
              result (_,m) = m

for i n d = until d n i

Iterative one-liner Haskell programmer (former APL and C programmer)

fac n = snd (until ((>n) . fst) (\(i,m) -> (i+1, i*m)) (1,1))

Accumulating Haskell programmer (building up to a quick climax)

facAcc a 0 = a
facAcc a n = facAcc (n*a) (n-1)

fac = facAcc 1

Continuation-passing Haskell programmer (raised RABBITS in early years, then moved to New Jersey)

facCps k 0 = k 1
facCps k n = facCps (k . (n *)) (n-1)

fac = facCps id

Boy Scout Haskell programmer (likes tying knots; always “reverent,” he belongs to the Church of the Least Fixed-Point [8])

y f = f (y f)

fac = y (\f n -> if (n==0) then 1 else n * f (n-1))

Combinatory Haskell programmer (eschews variables, if not obfuscation; all this currying’s just a phase, though it seldom hinders)

s f g x = f x (g x)

k x y   = x

b f g x = f (g x)

c f g x = f x g

y f     = f (y f)

cond p f g x = if p x then f x else g x

fac  = y (b (cond ((==) 0) (k 1)) (b (s (*)) (c b pred)))

List-encoding Haskell programmer (prefers to count in unary)

arb = ()    -- "undefined" is also a good RHS, as is "arb" :)

listenc n = replicate n arb
listprj f = length . f . listenc

listprod xs ys = [ i (x,y) | x<-xs, y<-ys ]
                 where i _ = arb

facl []         = listenc  1
facl n@(_:pred) = listprod n (facl pred)

fac = listprj facl

Interpretive Haskell programmer (never “met a language” he didn't like)

-- a dynamically-typed term language

data Term = Occ Var
          | Use Prim
          | Lit Integer
          | App Term Term
          | Abs Var  Term
          | Rec Var  Term

type Var  = String
type Prim = String


-- a domain of values, including functions

data Value = Num  Integer
           | Bool Bool
           | Fun (Value -> Value)

instance Show Value where
  show (Num  n) = show n
  show (Bool b) = show b
  show (Fun  _) = ""

prjFun (Fun f) = f
prjFun  _      = error "bad function value"

prjNum (Num n) = n
prjNum  _      = error "bad numeric value"

prjBool (Bool b) = b
prjBool  _       = error "bad boolean value"

binOp inj f = Fun (\i -> (Fun (\j -> inj (f (prjNum i) (prjNum j)))))


-- environments mapping variables to values

type Env = [(Var, Value)]

getval x env =  case lookup x env of
                  Just v  -> v
                  Nothing -> error ("no value for " ++ x)


-- an environment-based evaluation function

eval env (Occ x) = getval x env
eval env (Use c) = getval c prims
eval env (Lit k) = Num k
eval env (App m n) = prjFun (eval env m) (eval env n)
eval env (Abs x m) = Fun  (\v -> eval ((x,v) : env) m)
eval env (Rec x m) = f where f = eval ((x,f) : env) m


-- a (fixed) "environment" of language primitives

times = binOp Num  (*)
minus = binOp Num  (-)
equal = binOp Bool (==)
cond  = Fun (\b -> Fun (\x -> Fun (\y -> if (prjBool b) then x else y)))

prims = [ ("*", times), ("-", minus), ("==", equal), ("if", cond) ]


-- a term representing factorial and a "wrapper" for evaluation

facTerm = Rec "f" (Abs "n" 
              (App (App (App (Use "if")
                   (App (App (Use "==") (Occ "n")) (Lit 0))) (Lit 1))
                   (App (App (Use "*")  (Occ "n"))
                        (App (Occ "f")  
                             (App (App (Use "-") (Occ "n")) (Lit 1))))))

fac n = prjNum (eval [] (App facTerm (Lit n)))

Static Haskell programmer (he does it with class, he’s got that fundep Jones! After Thomas Hallgren’s “Fun with Functional Dependencies” [7])

-- static Peano constructors and numerals

data Zero
data Succ n

type One   = Succ Zero
type Two   = Succ One
type Three = Succ Two
type Four  = Succ Three


-- dynamic representatives for static Peanos

zero  = undefined :: Zero
one   = undefined :: One
two   = undefined :: Two
three = undefined :: Three
four  = undefined :: Four


-- addition, a la Prolog

class Add a b c | a b -> c where
  add :: a -> b -> c
  
instance              Add  Zero    b  b
instance Add a b c => Add (Succ a) b (Succ c)


-- multiplication, a la Prolog

class Mul a b c | a b -> c where
  mul :: a -> b -> c

instance                           Mul  Zero    b Zero
instance (Mul a b c, Add b c d) => Mul (Succ a) b d


-- factorial, a la Prolog

class Fac a b | a -> b where
  fac :: a -> b

instance                                Fac  Zero    One
instance (Fac n k, Mul (Succ n) k m) => Fac (Succ n) m

-- try, for "instance" (sorry):
-- 
--     :t fac four

Beginning graduate Haskell programmer (graduate education tends to liberate one from petty concerns about, e.g., the efficiency of hardware-based integers)

-- the natural numbers, a la Peano

data Nat = Zero | Succ Nat


-- iteration and some applications

iter z s  Zero    = z
iter z s (Succ n) = s (iter z s n)

plus n = iter n     Succ
mult n = iter Zero (plus n)


-- primitive recursion

primrec z s  Zero    = z
primrec z s (Succ n) = s n (primrec z s n)


-- two versions of factorial

fac  = snd . iter (one, one) (\(a,b) -> (Succ a, mult a b))
fac' = primrec one (mult . Succ)


-- for convenience and testing (try e.g. "fac five")

int = iter 0 (1+)

instance Show Nat where
  show = show . int

(zero : one : two : three : four : five : _) = iterate Succ Zero

 
Origamist Haskell programmer
(always starts out with the “basic Bird fold”)

-- (curried, list) fold and an application

fold c n []     = n
fold c n (x:xs) = c x (fold c n xs)

prod = fold (*) 1


-- (curried, boolean-based, list) unfold and an application

unfold p f g x = 
  if p x 
     then [] 
     else f x : unfold p f g (g x)

downfrom = unfold (==0) id pred


-- hylomorphisms, as-is or "unfolded" (ouch! sorry ...)

refold  c n p f g   = fold c n . unfold p f g

refold' c n p f g x = 
  if p x 
     then n 
     else c (f x) (refold' c n p f g (g x))
                         

-- several versions of factorial, all (extensionally) equivalent

fac   = prod . downfrom
fac'  = refold  (*) 1 (==0) id pred
fac'' = refold' (*) 1 (==0) id pred

Cartesianally-inclined Haskell programmer (prefers Greek food, avoids the spicy Indian stuff; inspired by Lex Augusteijn’s “Sorting Morphisms” [3])

-- (product-based, list) catamorphisms and an application

cata (n,c) []     = n
cata (n,c) (x:xs) = c (x, cata (n,c) xs)

mult = uncurry (*)
prod = cata (1, mult)


-- (co-product-based, list) anamorphisms and an application

ana f = either (const []) (cons . pair (id, ana f)) . f

cons = uncurry (:)

downfrom = ana uncount

uncount 0 = Left  ()
uncount n = Right (n, n-1)


-- two variations on list hylomorphisms

hylo  f  g    = cata g . ana f

hylo' f (n,c) = either (const n) (c . pair (id, hylo' f (c,n))) . f

pair (f,g) (x,y) = (f x, g y)


-- several versions of factorial, all (extensionally) equivalent

fac   = prod . downfrom
fac'  = hylo  uncount (1, mult)
fac'' = hylo' uncount (1, mult)

Ph.D. Haskell programmer (ate so many bananas that his eyes bugged out, now he needs new lenses!)

-- explicit type recursion based on functors

newtype Mu f = Mu (f (Mu f))  deriving Show

in      x  = Mu x
out (Mu x) = x


-- cata- and ana-morphisms, now for *arbitrary* (regular) base functors

cata phi = phi . fmap (cata phi) . out
ana  psi = in  . fmap (ana  psi) . psi


-- base functor and data type for natural numbers,
-- using a curried elimination operator

data N b = Zero | Succ b  deriving Show

instance Functor N where
  fmap f = nelim Zero (Succ . f)

nelim z s  Zero    = z
nelim z s (Succ n) = s n

type Nat = Mu N


-- conversion to internal numbers, conveniences and applications

int = cata (nelim 0 (1+))

instance Show Nat where
  show = show . int

zero = in   Zero
suck = in . Succ       -- pardon my "French" (Prelude conflict)

plus n = cata (nelim n     suck   )
mult n = cata (nelim zero (plus n))


-- base functor and data type for lists

data L a b = Nil | Cons a b  deriving Show

instance Functor (L a) where
  fmap f = lelim Nil (\a b -> Cons a (f b))

lelim n c  Nil       = n
lelim n c (Cons a b) = c a b

type List a = Mu (L a)


-- conversion to internal lists, conveniences and applications

list = cata (lelim [] (:))

instance Show a => Show (List a) where
  show = show . list

prod = cata (lelim (suck zero) mult)

upto = ana (nelim Nil (diag (Cons . suck)) . out)

diag f x = f x x

fac = prod . upto

 
Post-doc Haskell programmer
(from Uustalu, Vene and Pardo’s “Recursion Schemes from Comonads” [4])

-- explicit type recursion with functors and catamorphisms

newtype Mu f = In (f (Mu f))

unIn (In x) = x

cata phi = phi . fmap (cata phi) . unIn


-- base functor and data type for natural numbers,
-- using locally-defined "eliminators"

data N c = Z | S c

instance Functor N where
  fmap g  Z    = Z
  fmap g (S x) = S (g x)

type Nat = Mu N

zero   = In  Z
suck n = In (S n)

add m = cata phi where
  phi  Z    = m
  phi (S f) = suck f

mult m = cata phi where
  phi  Z    = zero
  phi (S f) = add m f


-- explicit products and their functorial action

data Prod e c = Pair c e

outl (Pair x y) = x
outr (Pair x y) = y

fork f g x = Pair (f x) (g x)

instance Functor (Prod e) where
  fmap g = fork (g . outl) outr


-- comonads, the categorical "opposite" of monads

class Functor n => Comonad n where
  extr :: n a -> a
  dupl :: n a -> n (n a)

instance Comonad (Prod e) where
  extr = outl
  dupl = fork id outr


-- generalized catamorphisms, zygomorphisms and paramorphisms

gcata :: (Functor f, Comonad n) =>
           (forall a. f (n a) -> n (f a))
             -> (f (n c) -> c) -> Mu f -> c

gcata dist phi = extr . cata (fmap phi . dist . fmap dupl)

zygo chi = gcata (fork (fmap outl) (chi . fmap outr))

para :: Functor f => (f (Prod (Mu f) c) -> c) -> Mu f -> c
para = zygo In


-- factorial, the *hard* way!

fac = para phi where
  phi  Z             = suck zero
  phi (S (Pair f n)) = mult f (suck n)
  

-- for convenience and testing

int = cata phi where
  phi  Z    = 0
  phi (S f) = 1 + f

instance Show (Mu N) where
  show = show . int

Tenured professor (teaching Haskell to freshmen)

fac n = product [1..n]

• Content from The Evolution of a Haskell Programmer by Fritz Ruehr, Willamette University - 11 July 01

Answer 4

Thanks to Christoph, a C99 solution that works for quite a few "numbers":

#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>

double fact(double x)
{
  return tgamma(x+1.);
}

int main()
{
  printf("%f %f\n", fact(3.0), fact(5.0));
  return 0;
}

produces 6.000000 120.000000

Answer 5

For large n you may run into some issues and you may want to use Stirling's approximation:

Which is:

Answer 6

If your main objective is an interesting looking function:

int facorial(int a) {
   int b = 1, c, d, e;
   a--;
   for (c = a; c > 0; c--)
   for (d = b; d > 0; d--)
   for (e = c; e > 0; e--)
   b++;
   return b;
}

(Not recommended as an algorithm for real use.)

Answer 7

a tail-recursive version:

long factorial(long n)
{
    return tr_fact(n, 1);
}
static long tr_fact(long n, long result)
{
    if(n==1)
        return result;
    else
        return tr_fact(n-1, n*result);
}

Answer 8

In C99 (or Java) I would write the factorial function iteratively like this:

int factorial(int n)
{
    int result = 1;
    for (int i = 2; i <= n; i++)
    {
        result *= i;
    }
    return result;
}

• C is not a functional language and you can't rely on tail-call optimization. So don't use recursion in C (or Java) unless you need to.

• Just because factorial is often used as the first example for recursion it doesn't mean you need recursion to compute it.

• This will overflow silently if n is too big, as is the custom in C (and Java).

• If the numbers int can represent are too small for the factorials you want to compute then choose another number type. long long if it needs be just a little bit bigger, float or double if n isn't too big and you don't mind some imprecision, or big integers if you want the exact values of really big factorials.

Answer 9

Here's a C program that uses OPENSSL's BIGNUM implementation, and therefore is not particularly useful for students. (Of course accepting a BIGNUM as the input parameter is crazy, but helpful for demonstrating interaction between BIGNUMs).

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <assert.h>
#include <openssl/crypto.h>
#include <openssl/bn.h>

BIGNUM *factorial(const BIGNUM *num)
{
    BIGNUM *count = BN_new();
    BIGNUM *fact = NULL;
    BN_CTX *ctx = NULL;

    BN_one(count);
    if( BN_cmp(num, BN_value_one()) <= 0 )
    {
        return count;
    }

    ctx = BN_CTX_new();
    fact = BN_dup(num);
    BN_sub(count, fact, BN_value_one());
    while( BN_cmp(count, BN_value_one()) > 0 )
    {
        BN_mul(fact, count, fact, ctx);
        BN_sub(count, count, BN_value_one());
    }

    BN_CTX_free(ctx);
    BN_free(count);

    return fact;
}

This test program shows how to create a number for input and what to do with the return value:

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    const char *test_cases[] =
    {
        "0", "1",
        "1", "1",
        "4", "24",
        "15", "1307674368000",
        "30", "265252859812191058636308480000000",
        "56", "710998587804863451854045647463724949736497978881168458687447040000000000000",
        NULL, NULL
    };
    int index = 0;
    BIGNUM *bn = NULL;
    BIGNUM *fact = NULL;
    char *result_str = NULL;

    for( index = 0; test_cases[index] != NULL; index += 2 )
    {
        BN_dec2bn(&bn, test_cases[index]);

        fact = factorial(bn);

        result_str = BN_bn2dec(fact);
        printf("%3s: %s\n", test_cases[index], result_str);
        assert(strcmp(result_str, test_cases[index + 1]) == 0);

        OPENSSL_free(result_str);
        BN_free(fact);
        BN_free(bn);
        bn = NULL;
    }

    return 0;
}

Compiled with gcc:

gcc factorial.c -o factorial -g -lcrypto

Answer 10

int factorial(int n){
    return n <= 1 ? 1 : n * factorial(n-1);
}

Answer 11

You use the following code to do it.

#include    <stdio.h>
#include    <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
   int x, number, fac;
   fac = 1;
   printf("Enter a number:\n");
   scanf("%d",&number);

   if(number<0)
   {
      printf("Factorial not defined for negative numbers.\n");
      exit(0);
   }

   for(x = 1; x <= number; x++)
   {
      if (number >= 0)
         fac = fac * x;
      else
         fac=1;
   }

   printf("%d! = %d\n", number, fac);
} 

Answer 12

For large numbers you probably can get away with an approximate solution, which tgamma gives you (n! = Gamma(n+1)) from math.h. If you want even larger numbers, they won't fit in a double, so you should use lgamma (natural log of the gamma function) instead.

If you're working somewhere without a full C99 math.h, you can easily do this type of thing yourself:

double logfactorial(int n) {
  double fac = 0.0;
  for ( ; n>1 ; n--) fac += log(fac);
  return fac;
}

Answer 13

I don't think I'd use this in most cases, but one well-known practice which is becoming less widely used is to have a look-up table. If we're only working with built-in types, the memory hit is tiny.

Just another approach, to make the poster aware of a different technique. Many recursive solutions also can be memoized whereby a lookup table is filled in when the algorithm runs, drastically reducing the cost on future calls (kind of like the principle behind .NET JIT compilation I guess).

Answer 14

Example in C using recursion

unsigned long factorial(unsigned long f)
{
        if (f) return(f * factorial(f - 1));
        return 1;
}

printf("%lu", factorial(5));

Answer 15

We have to start from 1 to the limit specfied say n.Start from 1*2*3...*n.

In c, i am writing it as a function.

main()
{
 int n;
 scanf("%d",&n);
 printf("%ld",fact(n));
}

long int fact(int n)
{
 long int facto=1;
 int i; 
for(i=1;i<=n;i++)
 {
  facto=facto*i;
 }
 return facto;
}

Answer 16

Simplest and most efficient is to sum up logarithms. If you use Log10 you get power and exponent.

Pseudocode

r=0
for i from 1 to n
    r= r + log(i)/log(10)

print "result is:", 10^(r-floor(r)) ,"*10^" , floor(r)

You might need to add the code so the integer part does not increase too much and thus decrease accuracy, but result should be ok for even very large factorials.

Answer 17

Simple solution:

unsigned int factorial(unsigned int n)
{
   return (n == 1 || n == 0) ? 1 : factorial(n - 1) * n;
}

Answer 18

I would do this with a pre-calculated lookup table as suggested by Mr. Boy. This would be faster to calculate than an iterative or recursive solution. It relies on how fast n! grows, because the largest n! you can calculate without overflowing an unsigned long long (max value of 18,446,744,073,709,551,615) is only 20!, so you only need an array with 21 elements. Here's how it would look in c:

long long factorial (int n) {
    long long f[22] = {1, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, 5040, 40320, 362880, 3628800, 39916800, 479001600, 6227020800, 87178291200, 1307674368000, 20922789888000, 355687428096000, 6402373705728000, 121645100408832000, 2432902008176640000, 51090942171709440000};
    return f[n]; 
}

See for yourself!

Answer 19

I used this code for Factorial:

#include<stdio.h>
int main(){
  int i=1,f=1,n;

  printf("\n\nEnter a number: ");
  scanf("%d",&n);
  while(i<=n){
      f=f*i;
      i++;
  }
  printf("Factorial of is: %d",f);
  getch();
}